Creativity on LJ...
Jan. 7th, 2005 06:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
valis2Recently someone on one of the lists I belong to mentioned that it's off-putting when a writer draws attention to an allusion or bit of foreshadowing they've made. It does seem to smack of "Look how clever I am!"; I can see doing a separately archived annotated work, if there is enough demand, but to point out the clever bits in the fic itself or even in the author's note seems distracting.
However, it started me thinking that, on the other hand, annotated versions are few and far between. Artists spend all of this extra time putting in clever touches, and so many of them go unnoticed. I thought it would be nice to have an entry where we show them off. I'd love to read about the thoughts behind the creation. I'd love to see what the artist created and hear what influenced the work or why they think it's particularly clever. (I'm not much of a fan of Formalism.)
Seeing that I have a wonderful flist, full of amazing fanfic writers, fanartists, and photographers, I thought that it would be fascinating to hear a few stories.
So here is a little exercise for the flist, if anyone is interested.
1) Find something you've created that you're rather proud of. Art, poetry, fic, whatever. This is the Ego Stroking thread...don't be afraid to add to it. I'm certain that you've created something that's rather clever...here's a chance to celebrate it!
2) Comment to this entry, or make your own entry, and either provide a link or a sample of your creation.
3) Explain why it's clever or why it was particularly difficult to create or why you love it so.
4) Mention anything else of note about it.
I'll be the guinea pig...I think what I'm most proud of in fandom is, quite surprisingly, one of the shortest things I've ever written. It took a while to really shape it in the exact manner I wanted. It was a response to the First Line Drabble competition that swept through LJ some time ago. I wrote a creepy little drabble on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
switchknife's LJ based on one of the first lines of one of her works. It's mature, of course, so don't say I didn't warn you. The first line I used was The body is his book.
----------------
The body is his book. Lucius can always tell the lies it conceals, and this one should be no different, pale, sallow, spread out over the table like parchment. Black eyes like ink. He touches the warm flesh, lightly running his fingertips over one jutting hip. This body should have held no lies from him. This body should have known better. Its traitorous heart intrigues him.
He can control every last muscle, can do things with Imperius that even the Dark Lord might fear. It only takes the slightest effort to keep this body quiescent. He wonders where the treachery is written; the soles of the feet, the tender scalp, the delicate webbing between fingers.
This body is a mystery he will illuminate. He will have to sink deep to bring out the hidden letters, the dark morass of perfidy, the black word of betrayal that sprouted through the flesh.
-------------------
It was particularly difficult not to have Severus interact with Lucius, but I thought that would have spoiled it. I wanted to build up tension, to have the writer imagining him violently afraid under Lucius's fingertips. I love the clinical detachment that Lucius has affected; now that Severus has been found to be a traitor, Severus is nothing but an experiment to him, all human emotion divorced and withdrawn.
My favorite bit is "dark morass of perfidy"...so melodramatic, which you know I love. I kept that phrase in my head for weeks. I also love how the traitorous impulse is described as a plant, wending its way through Severus's body and bringing him to betrayal. I also love that Severus is described as parchment and ink in the second and third sentences, bringing inswitchknife's first line, and then continuing the book comparison with "where treachery is written", "a mystery he will illuminate" (as in illuminated manuscripts), "the hidden letters", "the black word of betrayal". Oh, I had so much fun with this drabble, and I completely forgot about it until I thought of what I'd like to bring up for this entry.
Heh, the explanation is longer than the work. How amusing.
I am so hoping you'll respond...I think it will be really interesting. I am always amazed by the talent I see on the flist (and in the fandom/LJ in general), and I'd love to hear what you have to say!
EDIT: I fixed teh ebil bolding tag.
And another thing: You, flist, are cool. I knew it already, but still. Keep responding...have fun!
However, it started me thinking that, on the other hand, annotated versions are few and far between. Artists spend all of this extra time putting in clever touches, and so many of them go unnoticed. I thought it would be nice to have an entry where we show them off. I'd love to read about the thoughts behind the creation. I'd love to see what the artist created and hear what influenced the work or why they think it's particularly clever. (I'm not much of a fan of Formalism.)
Seeing that I have a wonderful flist, full of amazing fanfic writers, fanartists, and photographers, I thought that it would be fascinating to hear a few stories.
So here is a little exercise for the flist, if anyone is interested.
1) Find something you've created that you're rather proud of. Art, poetry, fic, whatever. This is the Ego Stroking thread...don't be afraid to add to it. I'm certain that you've created something that's rather clever...here's a chance to celebrate it!
2) Comment to this entry, or make your own entry, and either provide a link or a sample of your creation.
3) Explain why it's clever or why it was particularly difficult to create or why you love it so.
4) Mention anything else of note about it.
I'll be the guinea pig...I think what I'm most proud of in fandom is, quite surprisingly, one of the shortest things I've ever written. It took a while to really shape it in the exact manner I wanted. It was a response to the First Line Drabble competition that swept through LJ some time ago. I wrote a creepy little drabble on
switchknife's LJ based on one of the first lines of one of her works. It's mature, of course, so don't say I didn't warn you. The first line I used was The body is his book.----------------
The body is his book. Lucius can always tell the lies it conceals, and this one should be no different, pale, sallow, spread out over the table like parchment. Black eyes like ink. He touches the warm flesh, lightly running his fingertips over one jutting hip. This body should have held no lies from him. This body should have known better. Its traitorous heart intrigues him.
He can control every last muscle, can do things with Imperius that even the Dark Lord might fear. It only takes the slightest effort to keep this body quiescent. He wonders where the treachery is written; the soles of the feet, the tender scalp, the delicate webbing between fingers.
This body is a mystery he will illuminate. He will have to sink deep to bring out the hidden letters, the dark morass of perfidy, the black word of betrayal that sprouted through the flesh.
-------------------
It was particularly difficult not to have Severus interact with Lucius, but I thought that would have spoiled it. I wanted to build up tension, to have the writer imagining him violently afraid under Lucius's fingertips. I love the clinical detachment that Lucius has affected; now that Severus has been found to be a traitor, Severus is nothing but an experiment to him, all human emotion divorced and withdrawn.
My favorite bit is "dark morass of perfidy"...so melodramatic, which you know I love. I kept that phrase in my head for weeks. I also love how the traitorous impulse is described as a plant, wending its way through Severus's body and bringing him to betrayal. I also love that Severus is described as parchment and ink in the second and third sentences, bringing in
switchknife's first line, and then continuing the book comparison with "where treachery is written", "a mystery he will illuminate" (as in illuminated manuscripts), "the hidden letters", "the black word of betrayal". Oh, I had so much fun with this drabble, and I completely forgot about it until I thought of what I'd like to bring up for this entry.Heh, the explanation is longer than the work. How amusing.
I am so hoping you'll respond...I think it will be really interesting. I am always amazed by the talent I see on the flist (and in the fandom/LJ in general), and I'd love to hear what you have to say!
EDIT: I fixed teh ebil bolding tag.
And another thing: You, flist, are cool. I knew it already, but still. Keep responding...have fun!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2005-01-07 07:25 pm (UTC)It's from chapter 34 of But You Alone, and that chapter is still in my own opinion the crest of my writing.
It was a hard chapter to pull off. Essentially, I'd spent 34 chapters setting up this fated pairing, and had to split them up AND make it convincing.
To do so, I used what is referred to as the "Eeeeew" Theory on HPFGU, essentially, that's the one that suggests Severus Snape rode drag with Voldemort on the night of Godric's Hollow. His prize for acting as second was to be Lily. Now, in my story it is not true, but Harry believes it - because Voldemort planted that idea in his head. Snape has to find a way - in a hellish deal with Harry - to get Hermione to walk out of his life, hating him - or she will be kissed by a Dementor, under Harry's orders. I also had to write "mad" Harry. But getting Severus's rejection to work was the toughest. Here's a longish snippet - we are well into the exchange between Snape and Hermione and she's still resisting what he is saying. Here's where he turns the trick:
"Oh, come on, surely there must have been some rumour – I can't believe no one ever guessed it. I hated James Potter because he had the one thing I ever wanted."
Her eyes narrowed and I could see final comprehension beginning to dawn. In a barely audible whisper, she said, "Lily?"
"Yes. I knew you'd work it out. You're an intelligent girl, Hermione. Lily. The woman I did want. The woman I never forgot – worth a hundred of you, by the way." She gasped at what was a complete lie, and I continued. "Let me take you back to a night almost twenty-six years ago. Godric's Hollow. I was in the service of the Dark Lord then, and he took me along when he found out the whereabouts of the boy who a prophecy said would overthrown him one day. I was his trusted servant, and was there to be his second in the unlikely
event of anything going wrong. I volunteered for the duty, because I saw it as a way of finally getting what I should have had – Lily. I knew he was going to kill James Potter and the child, and then I would get my deserved reward. Voldemort promised me I could have her, when he was finished." I could hear these words, and they were a slight distortion of what had actually happened, but just sufficiently distorted to reshape our entire world. It was merely a question of emphasis. I continued, well into cruelty's stride, then. The vicious habits of a lifetime, which had largely disappeared over the last two years, all came back so easily. "Of course, neither Voldemort nor I expected that a mere child could have the power to almost destroy him, or that Lily would make some pathetic suicidal gesture of protection. When she died, part of me died – the only woman I ever loved was dead beyond recall – due to some pathetic baby! I stood in the ruins, and it was only the fact of the powerful protection his mother had cast on him that stopped me murdering that bloody child then and there, but I vowed before all the Gods that I would have my revenge one day, no matter how long it took."
too long for one post, so I'll have two if you do not mind.